Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone a good morning. On behalf of the committee, I would like to welcome Mr. Tony Murphy from the European Court of Auditors to the meeting. He is joined by his colleagues, Mr. Brian Murphy and Mr. Peter Borsos. They are all very welcome and I thank them for joining us this morning.

Before we begin, I will read the note on privilege, which I have no doubt everyone will be very familiar with but I have to go through it every time. All witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks and it is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

Members are reminded of the long-standing practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. There are a number of people joining us remotely. I remind members that there is a constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of Leinster House complex to participate in the meetings. If members are not present within Leinster House, they cannot participate. I will obviously have to ascertain that they are present before allowing them to participate. This applies to members who are participating via MS Teams. With that, we will confirm all those details and get back to our meeting proper.

The first order of business is to call Mr. Murphy to make his opening address to us.